


Not The North I Wanted

by FernStone



Category: His Dark Materials (TV), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack, Dad Lord Asriel, Daemons, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Glasgow, Inspired by Real Events, Interesting People, Modern AU With Daemons, Not Canon Compliant, Scotland, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22257601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FernStone/pseuds/FernStone
Summary: When Lord Asriel told Lyra he was taking her elsewhere, this was not what she'd expected. When he'd said they were going North she'd expected it to be the North. Adventure and snow! Armoured bears and the aurora! Plenty of time together with his research.Not Glasgow.[Crack Modern!AU Dadriel]
Relationships: Lord Asriel & Lyra Belacqua
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Not The North I Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> So I was thinking. James McAvoy is from Glasgow. Why not make Asriel from Glasgow. I live in Glasgow. Me and friends have experienced many things in Glasgow. Why not make Dadriel in Glasgow? 
> 
> And that's how this fic came to being. It's mostly crack with a little fluff mixed in. Mosttt stuff is based of my experiences or friends, I'll say which is which in the end note xD
> 
> Also disclaimer: I love living in Glasgow! This fic may make it seem like I don't, but honestly I swear I do (compared to Edinburgh aha)
> 
> This is my last Dadriel Saturday fic till after February! I wrote it weeks ago thats why I have time to post it imo

Lyra was incredibly excited. Her father hadn't told her why, but they were moving. He'd just suddenly appeared, as he often did, with the news that he was taking her away with him. The only reason given was that it wasn't safe anymore.

She'd spent entire life in Oxford. Most of it was spent under the care of various scholars in Jordan college, though she mostly lived a free life. She was forced into school but aside from that she had the run of the place. Her father, Lord Asriel, was often doing research and expeditions in the North. She spent time with him when he was back but it was always so short.

But now he was going to live with him! She didn't understand why Oxford wasn't safe anymore, or what she had to be kept safe from, but she honestly didn't care.

She wouldn't deny being disappointed that he wasn't taking her on an expedition with him (yet), but Scotland was in the North right? It was certainly further north than Oxford even if it was the North.

She stared excitedly out the train window as the scenery flew by, Pan perched against it doing the same. Her father sat opposite her, tapping away at his tablet and a light frown creasing his lips. He told her he had a lot to short out on their way down. He was still planning to continue his work, but had to transfer to a university in Glasgow (though would still have connections with Jordan college). There was also the exploration. She assumed he would cut down on it... Or take her with him? She hoped so.

It was a long journey from Oxford, and Lyra fell asleep on the third train. It had been extremely stressful for her father, she could tell, so she'd tried to be on her best behaviour.

Finally they rolled into Glasgow Central Station. It was late and Lyra grumbled as her father shook her awake, stretching out with a large yawn. She just wanted her bed.

"Come on, not long now," Lord Asriel smiled, amused at her grogginess and slightly more relaxed now that they'd arrived. He gently led her off the train, grabbing their two suitcases and pulling them along. Lyra was half dazed as they walked down the platform.

Her father spotted the man he knew, something akin to a friend - who had made this move possible with short notice. He greeted him with a smile and shoulder pat before they started talking.

Lyra looked at Lord Asriel as if he'd grown a second head.

She was fairly certain they were both speaking a different language. She couldn't understand a word the other man said and only a few from her father, when he slipped out of the thicker accent of his childhood country. She'd always thought they all sounded like him - clearly Scottish but understandable.

Obviously not.

She couldn't get her head around the fact that they were speaking English. It was so unlike the accents in Oxford. She just didn't understand. Did everyone in Scotland sound like this.

"Come, Lyra, we can go now," Asriel steered her towards an escalator to the lower level of the station. "I've got everything we need."

  
-

  
Lyra looked at the flat in dismay. It was the furthest thing from Oxford she'd ever seen. She may have only had a single room to herself but it had been clean. And her surroundings had been beautiful. This was not.

"It's only for a short while, so bear with it," was the first thing her father said upon entering. "Just until we can find somewhere else."

He let her pick which room she wanted. She chose the smaller one because it had less cigarette butts underneath the bed. It was kind of nasty and she did the best job she could to clean it up. Pan turned his nose up at the musty smell in the place, burrowing himself against her.

"Why are we staying here?" she asked with a frown, sitting on a hole filled sofa next to Lord Asriel. "Why not somewhere better. You're a lord."

He sighed softly, gently ruffling her hair. "I used a lot of money in the sudden move and my last expedition. Don't worry, we'll move soon. It's hard to get a place to stay at such short notice."  
"Are we going to move to the North?"

"If this doesn't work out I'll consider it."

Lyra grinned at that. Part of her hoped that this wouldn't work out, because she'd love to end up living even further North.

  
-

  
Asriel regretted moving with Lyra on the third day. It was not because of her or the city itself. He loved his home country with all his heart, if only he hadn't lost is Manor there in the scandal. But there was only so many days of late night noise he could deal with.

Consistently around midnight one of the guys in the flat below them would start playing guitar. Well, playing was a kind way of putting it. Any brainless monkey could do what he was. Asriel was fairly certain he was strumming two variations of the same chord and absolutely nothing else. He wasn't even doing that well.

It was infuriating and he knew that it was getting to Lyra too.

Maybe they shouldn't have moved. But he'd had to. He'd been told that Marisa had begun to feel out for Lyra, extending her influence to the point where there was a risk that she could steal her away. The last thing he wanted was for his daughter to end up with that snake of a woman.

But he didn't feel it was safe to take her all the way further North, to where he was doing experiments with the Northern Lights. She was just a young girl. He would if he must, but he would rather he had her childhood in a normal city.

Glasgow had been the solution. Marisa absolutely detested the place, very much an outsider due to the way she held herself. Posh and English she was not liked by the people of the city. She had very little influence here. It was enough that Asriel could easily keep Lyra safe.

But maybe it had been the wrong decision.

He was more sure of that when the guy below them laughed, a goat like sound that grated on his ears.

Yes maybe he should've taken Lyra North after all.

  
-

  
Sometimes Lyra has to take the train alone to visit Asriel at the University, where he is researching and presenting to get funding for his next trip. She has school during the weekdays but often his work goes far over this. While travelling alone is one thing, he has stated he doesn't want her home alone for more than an hour or two.

She doesn't point out that she was technically always home alone in the college.

So she travels to his work place instead, doing homework and playing with Pan in his office.

She's quickly found out the local Glasgow trains are full of characters.

She was sitting alone, Pan curled up on her lap and relaxing for the relatively short journey. She was more than used to it now. She was a bit disconcerted by a man sitting nearby who kept growling, at absolutely nothing, but it was easy enough to tune out. No worse than the slightly drunk ladies chatting. Just weirder.

Lyra practically jumped when an old man sat next to her, Pan leaping onto her neck and hiding behind her hair. She resisted the urge to glare at him, settling for a petulant frown. There were so many empty seats!

“I don’t care for politics,” he said gruffly to her. She could just about understand him through his thick glaswegian accent, something she’d gotten more used to. He ignored her incredulous look and continued. “They ‘ave it much worse in Russia and China, y’know! It’s much easier here, not that you youth would appreciate that! Y’know my uncle was sent to Siberia by old uncle Jo.”

Lyra just looked at him with even more confusion. Did he think she cared? And what on earth was this story even about. She was only twelve.

The old man stood up suddenly. “I’m going further down the train and I won’t be joining you on the coach.”

And then he lumbered away, leaving Lyra incredibly miffed and at a loss about what she’d just witnessed.

  
-

  
It was raining again. Lyra couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the sky, or felt the sun on her face.

It was always gray.

And it was almost always raining.

  
-

  
Asriel had been told by Lyra of her train experience, but he was unsure if he entirely believed her. His daughter had a knack for lies after all. But he kept an eye out for any strange characters all the same.

Said daughter was half asleep against him, yawns racking through her body. He smiled softly and pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. He was glad she was comfortable enough to fall asleep when with him. Though he hoped she didn’t do this when getting the train alone.

“Oy.”

Asriel looked up in confusion at the man who was staring him down. He clenched his fists slightly and kept his eyes open in preparation for a fight.

“Why do you have a milk carton?”

The question completely threw him and his mouth fell open in shock. He glanced to the milk carton in his free hand, then to his waking daughter and back to the man. He’d never seen such an aggressive stare over some milk.

“We ran out,” Asriel responded evenly, careful shifting so that his body was more in front of Lyra’s. She blinked up at the strange man with wide eyes. She was definitely awake now.

The man frowned even more at the answer. He seemed angry, even. Then he repeated the question as if Asriel’s answer couldn’t be true. “Why do you have that milk?”

“Because we ran out,” Asriel replied through gritted teeth. The man looked about to question him again but Stelmaria bared her teeth in a snarl. That sent him running.

“See what I mean by weird people on the train,” Lyra perked up, grinning with good humour at him.

“I do, now,” Asriel sighed and relaxed back in the uncomfortable seat. It had been a short but incredibly strange experience.

“At least he didn’t offer us any drugs!”

“What?!” Asriel turned to stare at his daughter. She hadn’t told him about that at all.

“They didn’t for em on me.”

“You got offered drugs and you failed to tell me.”

“Yeah, e’nt a big deal,” Lyra shrugged as if it wasn’t before hopping up. “This is our stop, c’mon!”

Asriel shook his head, a mixture of disbelief and despair running through his mind as he followed her off the train.

  
-

  
Lyra screamed when a tile fell off the wall in the shower. She jumped back, Pan leaping into her arms with shivers wracking his body. It had been so very close to her foot.

"Lyra? Are you okay?" her father knocked on the door to the tiny shower, barely more than two squares, with worry laced in his words. "Lyra!"

"I'm fine," she let out a shaky breath. "A tile fell and shocked me."

Once she was dressed they both stood in the cramped space to inspect it. Her father had removed the broken tile and checked her for any cuts she might not have noticed. He still held her back as he frowned at it.

"There's layers of tiling behind this," he frowned. "I'm not surprised it fell off with all the mould. We'll need to get it fixed."

"I don't like it here," Lyra complained with a pout, and not for the first time.

"I know," he sighed, ruffling her hair. "We'll move soon."

  
-

  
They added a new layer of tiling to the shower rather than replacing the one that felt out, making it even smaller.

  
-

  
They took a trip through to Edinburgh one weekend. Lyra was practically vibrating with excitement when they got off an absolutely packed Saturday train. It had been a stressful journey to say the least, with there already groups of boisterous Scots drinking at midday. It had taken multiple death glares from Asriel to stop one drunk man from continually talking to her.

But they were here now and Lyra was delighted. She'd always heard about how pretty Edinburgh was! She couldn't wait to explore.

Her father laughed slightly as she sped off the train, but not before forcefully dragging her hand. "Stick close or you'll get lost in the crowds."

She nodded fervently. The last thing she wanted was to end up alone in a strange city. And there really were so many people here. It made it difficult for walking, especially with a Daemon Stelmaria's size. But there were plenty of other Daemon as big around.

As soon as the exited the station Lyra was pulling her father towards Princes Street Park, steps becoming quicker the closer they got. The Christmas market! The reason they were here! It was so pretty and authentic, each stall in a small wooden hut. She dragged him right into the crowds without letting go of his hand for a moment.

"Father, can I get mulled wine?" she breathed, having pulled him over to one of the many selling drinks and pointing to the sign.

"Why would I let you do that," he sighed, though not without a slight smile. "You can have a hot chocolate."

She pouted as he went to buy it for her, hands stuffed in her pockets and looking like a ridiculously adorable and grumpy gremlin bundled up as she was. For all her huffing she gladly took the hot chocolate from him with a grin quickly changing her expression.

And if he let her have a drink of his mulled wine nobody would know.

Apart from Stelmaria, who looked at him with judging amusement.

Lyra finished her drink in record time and quickly grabbed his hand to continue dragging him around the entire market. Her hand was so small in his own, even covered in ridiculously thick gloves, but incredibly firm as she ran to anything she wanted to see. As much as it was tiring she was glad she was not running off on her own.

Her excitement was endearing and infectious, and he found a light smile on his lips even in a place he normally hated.

"I want to go on that!" Lyra pointed to the wheel, almost jumping up and down just at the thought. She'd dragged him all around the market and made sure that no corner was untouched. Asriel had quickly grown bored of all the similar stores and overpriced goods. But Lyra love it and he took joy from watching her young face light up at all the sights. He could get through the difficulty of somewhere so crowded for time with her.

"Are you sure? It goes quite high up," he teased even as he let her lead him over to the line to get on.

"Yes! I e'nt scared of heights!" she puffed out her chest and he laughed, ruffling her hair affectionately. He looked at the small carriage they were queueing for carefully. Stelmaria would fit in, just. It would be a bit cramped for them all but as long as Pan remained in a smaller form it would be manageable.

After ages queueing they finally got into a wheel carriage. Asriel sat down, uncomfortable in the small seat, and Lyra perched on the one opposite. She was already staring out the glass with wide and excited eyes. Stelmaria huffed slightly at the confined space and rested her head on his knee. He rubbed her behind the ears while carefully watching his daughter.

They began to rise, slowly but surely, and Lyra let out a squeal of delight. Both her and Pan had their noses smushed up against the window as if they wouldn’t get a perfect view if they didn’t. Asriel chuckled slightly, slyly pulling out his phone to snap a picture of the moment. If it ended up as his phone background, well who was going to know.

“Look at the castle!” Lyra gasped, pointing as they reached the top. “It’s all lit up!”

He moved himself carefully so he could be closer to her, head next to hers as he followed her finger. Edinburgh Castle stood out against the night sky, lights shining beneath it and showing it in all its splendour. It was certainly a view. Edinburgh was never a place he would choose to live but it was beautiful to look at.

“I want to live in a castle like that,” Lyra turned to grin at him, dark eyes shining with a joy that warmed his heart. He didn’t think there would ever be a happier moment than seeing his daughter so cheerful. “Can we?”

“Castles aren’t lived in anymore,” he smiled, ruffling her hair as she pouted. “But if we ever go North we can find something just as nice.”

“We can?” Lyra’s face lit up even further, elation clear across her soft features. The sights of the city vanished from her mind of the prospect of going North. “I can’t wait!”

“I know,” Asriel smiled, eyes soft and full of warmth. “I’ll take you there one day.”

Lyra grinned up at him before they turned back to watch the bustling city below them.

  
-

  
The heating broke. Lyra took to sleeping in Asriel's room, curled up on his bed with Stelmaria and Pan for warmth. He wouldn't deny that he found it endearing and that he had much less difficult sleeping with her by his side.

But it didn't stop the fact that he didn't want her to have to be in with him because of the cold. It was incredibly frustrating that he couldn't do anything but wait for someone to come fix their boiler. It didn't bother him nearly as much, he was used to the North, but it bothered her.

Still, Lyra was very cute when bundled up in multiple blankets. Not that he would ever let anyone else (especially her) know that he thought that.

He sighed softly, running a hand through gently through his daughter’s hair. She shifted with a small mumble but remained in deep sleep. Sleeping was the only time he could say Lyra looked truly innocent. Sure, she did when she was telling another far fetched lie. But her features were so often etched with mischief.

It was peaceful like this and he was finding the more time he spent in her daughter’s company, the more he enjoyed it.

She was still a brat. But an endearing one.

  
-

  
"Lyra."

Lyra looked up at her Father from where she lounged on the sofa playing on the switch she gotten for her last birthday. Pan was watching intensely and backseat gaming ever to her complaints. "Yeah?"

"Is there anything you like about living here?" He lifted her legs so he could sit on the sofa and Stelmaria lie down at his feet. Lyra plopped her legs right back down on his and considered the question.

"I like the fresh air," she responded after some thought. "And the people are friendly. But I hate this flat and the weirdos on the train."

Her father snorted at that, tilting his head back against the top of the couch. "Do you have any attachments to the city."

Lyra perked up. Where they moving? Oh she hoped so. She liked Glasgow but it was definitely not somewhere she wanted to spend the rest of her life. "I e'nt."

"Good," her father let out a soft sigh of relief. "I've gotten more funding for my research. How do you feel about moving North."

Lyra grinned. It was all she'd ever wanted.

"Yes, I can't wait!"

**Author's Note:**

> My Experiences:  
> \- The Flat  
> \- Goat Man (guitar player and ugly laughter, tormenting us for a year with noise)  
> \- Edinburgh Market? Ive been technically
> 
> Friends:  
> \- The three train men (all the same friend)  
> \- Not understanding Glaswegian (they're from London)
> 
> Everyones:  
> \- Never seeing the sun
> 
> Honourable Mentions, that I didn't have time to write:  
> \- Shouty bible man on sauchihall street, I'm sure you'll convert someone one day  
> \- Random dude in the centre with some robotic cats playing drums  
> \- That guy that dances to buskers really badly but enthusiastically (like everytime I'm in town)


End file.
